Fake Lindauer's origins lost to history

‘Calculated forgery’: A $121,000 fake has been consigned to the Waikato Museum store while a decision on when and how it will be exhibited is made.

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The artist who carried off a "calculated forgery of a highly sophisticated nature" has got away with it because police cannot trace its origin.

The philanthropic Trust Waikato, which bought the painting of Tainui chief Kewene Te Haho at auction for $121,000 from the International Arts Centre in Auckland in 2001, has also ruled out taking legal action against the sellers after an investigation of its own.

Trust Waikato complained to police in October after experts concluded the painting was not 120 years old and had not been painted by Gottfried Lindauer, despite being signed with what looks like his signature.

The investigation was sparked by Whanganui art expert Peter Ireland, who saw the painting in the Waikato Museum of Art and History in January. He thought it did not look old enough to be a Lindauer and the style was wrong.